


Fireworks

by caffinatedcollectorduck



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: El is scared, Hurt/Comfort, her first 4th
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:28:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25083886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caffinatedcollectorduck/pseuds/caffinatedcollectorduck
Summary: Hopper told her he'd be back late, but he didn't tell her about the fireworks
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper & Jim "Chief" Hopper
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	Fireworks

“I probably won’t be home until after ten or eleven, so don’t worry about heating up my dinner, just go ahead and do yours.” Hopper said as he buttoned his uniform that morning. El watched him with wide eyes from her spot at the table, sitting backwards in her chair to face him and nursing a glass of apple juice like it was supplying her with oxygen. It was the last of the carton, and the man wasn’t going shopping again until next week, so she was trying to savor the last of it.

“I don’t care if you stay up and wait for me, just please eat some real food before having a bunch of dessert, okay? You know that I’ll know if you don’t, El.” 

The girl nodded, setting her glass down. “Why so late?” she asked after swallowing. 

“It’s a holiday. That means most people don’t work today, and since it’s my job to take care of people, I have to work extra.” Jim placated. He’d debated on truthfully explaining the meaning of the Fourth of July to her, but decided against it when he figured that it would probably only make the child feel even more left out, just another custom she couldn’t participate in. 

But the girl didn’t question him, she was more concerned with their usual nightly tradition. “Can we watch a movie?” 

The man laughed lightly. “Sure, if you’re still awake when I get back, we can watch something.” 

“Okay. Goodbye.” El said simply, turning back to the rest of her breakfast. 

Hopper smiled, adjusted his belt, ruffled her hair, and unlocked the front door. “Bye, Kid. Have a good day.” 

The morning and afternoon passed uneventfully; Eleven made herself lunch, watched some cartoons, listened to music, completed two puzzles, checked in on Mike and her friends multiple times, and even took a short nap in the late afternoon. She woke up hungry for dinner, and made herself one of the many microwaveable meals from the freezer. El ate everything but the vegetables; those she hid in the bottom of the garbage can. It was beginning to grow dark when she sat on the couch to channel surf, her usual activity while she waited for Hopper to return. Nothing was on though, and the girl huffed a sigh as she switched the television over to static, resolving to just visit her friends again instead. 

That was, until the loudest boom she’d ever heard crashed from somewhere just outside. 

Eleven nearly jumped out of her skin, breath hitching and eyes glued on the front door. What was that? It almost sounded like thunder, but she knew there wasn’t a storm because she could see stars out. Had it been from a gun? The thought made her blood run cold; bad men used guns. That’s how they hurt Benny, that’s how they would’ve hurt her friends if she hadn’t… 

Boom! Another crash made El hit the deck, knocking the wind out of her. She curled into a ball as a third bang shook the small cabin, which elicited a small shriek from the child before she covered her mouth with her hand. 

The bad men were coming, she knew it. There was no time to radio Hopper either, they were close. But they didn’t know exactly where she was; maybe if she hid, they wouldn’t be able to find her. Maybe they’d just think someone else was living in this cabin. As quickly as she could, Eleven crawled underneath the couch, the smallest space she could fit underneath. She pulled a blanket under with her and wrapped herself in it completely, trembling harder with each loud crash. 

She wished she’d said more to Hopper this morning before he left. All she did was say goodbye, she should’ve hugged him, or told him thank you, or at least something. Now she’d probably never see him again, he’d never read to her before bed, wake her up with a warm breakfast, or rub her back as they sat together on the couch. Just the thought of never experiencing any of those things again brought tears to El’s eyes, and then a strong determination. No. She wouldn’t let them take her. Not without a fight. 

By the time Hopper parked the Blazer in the woods, it was past midnight. He’d have radioed El to tell her he was late, but he figured she’d already be asleep. She was more of an early bird than a night owl, something the man attributed to having spent an entire childhood wherein being asleep and being awake were only exclusively differentiated by darkness and light. He could see as he stepped over the tripwire that the lights in the cabin were out, and he could hear the static of the television as he climbed the porch steps. She probably fell asleep watching Wheeler again. Figures, though; what else was the kid supposed to do all day by herself?

The man knocked loudly, hoping it was enough to wake the girl but not scare her. When he received nothing in response, he knocked again even louder, this time nearly shouting, “I’m sorry I’m late, Kid, can you open the door?” 

Again, no response. El must really be passed out. Jim knew she was a deep sleeper, but on the other occasions that he’d warned her he’d be returning later, she’d either always stayed up waiting for him, or woke pretty quickly to his anticipated knock. 

He tried again, this time nearly banging the secret knock into the door. “El! It’s me, Kid, let me in!” 

And just like that, the locks turned and the door opened itself. Only when the man stepped inside, Eleven was nowhere to be seen. The TV was the only light emanating the small cabin, and under quick inspection, she wasn’t in bed, on the couch, or in the bathroom. Where was she, how the hell had she let him in? 

“El? Where are you, Kid?” Jim asked, trying to keep the fear out of his tone. 

It was a moment before he heard a tiny squeak of a voice from somewhere in the living room. “Safe?” 

Hopper whipped around, looking but not seeing her. “El? Are you hiding?” 

“Safe?” the voice asked again, this time a little louder. 

“What? Yes, it’s safe, it’s just me. Where are you, Kid?” 

A small, shaking hand reached for him from under the couch. How in the hell… “El, what’re you doing under there?” he bent down on the floor, finally eye to eye with the child. She was wrapped in a blanket and trembling, her hair soaked in sweat and her eyes puffy from tears. “Hey, what happened, what’s wrong?” 

“B..bad men.” she whispered, clinging to his hand when he reached for her. 

A rock dropped into the man’s stomach. “What? Did you see someone, did they come here?” 

The child shook her head. “Heard them.” 

“Heard them where?” Jim pressed, growing more anxious by the second. 

“Outside. Loud.” she replied. Just then, another explosion went off, making Eleven curl in on herself even further, her eyes squeezing shut. 

Relief flooded the man, but so did guilt a moment later. “Shit, El, I’m sorry, I should’ve warned you. It’s just fireworks, it’s not the bad men. Nobody’s coming to get you, I promise.” 

“Fire...fire-works?” the girl repeated, still holding tight to his hand. 

“Yeah, it’s part of a celebration, for the holiday today. They’re these things you light on fire and they blow up in the sky and are really colorful. We can’t see them from here though, because of all the trees.” he explained, feeling the child’s trembling begin to ease. “Hey, I’m gonna get you out of there. Come here.” 

Hopper lifted the couch and the child slowly crawled out, the throw blanket clinging to her. He put the couch down and helped her sit, turning off the TV and turning on a lamp. In the light, Jim could clearly see how red her cheeks were, and when she leaned into him for comfort she felt like her skin was on fire. It had to have been ninety degrees that day, and it was still almost as hot inside the stuffy cabin and El had wrapped herself in a blanket. 

“Jesus, Kid, we gotta cool you off.” he said, peeling the cover from around the child’s shoulders. It was nearly dripping wet, and her clothes were just as stuck to her. “Let’s go sit outside in your little pool, yeah?” 

The girl only nodded, her breathing heavy. Hopper wasn’t sure if it was because she was scared or overheated, but it worried him nonetheless. He stripped El to her underwear and led her onto the porch and into the small pool that sat in the shade. Even though it was the middle of the night, the water was tepid, the perfect temperature to cool her down and not be cold enough to shock her. 

Eleven sat with her knees curled to her chest, still startling every time another explosion went off. Hopper kicked himself again for not having warned her about this. He knew thunderstorms scared her, why hadn’t he thought that fireworks would? He had an epiphany a moment later as he was staring at the child in the pool, that that had been the same reason she’d been awake so early that morning he found her, on New Year's Day. It may have even been why she sought him out at all, if she thought it had been the bad men all this time. 

“Kid, I’m really sorry, I should’ve warned you about the fireworks, I don’t know what I was thinking.” 

After a moment she turned to face him. Her cheeks were still rosy pink, but the rest of her was losing color, and her breathing had slowed down significantly. “Why...fireworks?” 

Well, he may as well explain now. “Today is a holiday, something called the Fourth of July. It’s a special date because it’s when the United States gained independence and became its own country. People celebrate every year by being with their friends and family and making a lot of food and lighting off fireworks.” 

That made sense; she’d watched Mike and her friends play outside and eat snacks practically all day. They’d all been together too, at Mike’s house. He had a pool in his backyard, much bigger than the one she was sitting in now. “Holiday?”

“A special day we celebrate once every year. There’s all different kinds of holidays for a lot of reasons, and all different kinds of celebrations.” he said, again feeling guilty. He’d kept something from her that she’d never had that everyone else did, on purpose. Jim knew he was better than those bastards at the Lab, but at the moment he didn’t quite know by how much. “I’ll tell you what, Kid: tomorrow, all the fireworks that didn’t get bought today will be on sale, so I’ll get some for us to light off, okay? Then you can see that they’re nothing to be afraid of.” 

Eleven only nodded into her knees, still trying to accept that she was completely safe. She stayed in the pool for almost an hour before she felt cool enough to get out, and Hopper brought her a towel and clean clothes and made her two Eggos instead of one because he still felt like an absolute ass. It was nearly three am by the time El’s adrenaline rush ended and she finally crashed, though as she crawled into bed she tiredly insisted he still read to her. Of course he obliged, but she fell asleep two pages in. Hopper was off the next day, thankfully, because the child didn’t wake until nearly noon, and by then it was already hot and she was sweaty again. 

The man kept his promise though, and left shortly after he and El ate brunch to go pick up fireworks. He bought as many as he could carry in a wooden box, ignoring the strange looks the salesman was giving the chief of police regarding his mass fireworks purchase the day after the Fourth of July. El examined all of them closely as soon as he returned, but didn’t seem at all rushed to find out what they were actually for. After dinner when the sun went down, Jim heaved the box into his arms and set off for a nearby clearing in the woods, Eleven closely trailing him. 

When they arrived, the child watched with curiosity as Hopper lined up a row of rocket-like mortars that would set each other off. He stepped back to admire his work, nodding to himself in satisfaction before addressing El. “Alright, Kid, you ready?” 

She nodded, still not totally sure what to expect. The man flicked open his lighter, ignited the detonating cord, and stepped back. A loud hiss followed by sparks erupted from the base of the rocket just before it flew into the air, exploding loudly and into tiny blue pieces in the sky. A moment later, the second one went off, then the third, then the fourth. Each was a different color. Hopper smiled at his success, and was about to set up another row before he registered the little arms wrapped so tightly around his stomach that he could barely breathe. 

“Hey, what’s goin’ on?” he asked, trying to peel the child off of him. She was shaking again, one ear pressed tightly to his side, the other covered by her shoulder. “El, it’s just fireworks, it’s okay.” 

El just shook her head and buried her face further into his shirt. “What’s wrong, why don’t you like it? Did you even look?” 

She mumbled something unintelligible and gripped him harder. 

“Hey, talk to me, Kid.” he said, kneeling down and forcing her in front of him so they were eye to eye. 

“Too loud.” she said, still glancing around as if another explosion could go off at any second. 

“Just cover your ears with your hands. Here, we’ll try again.” 

She shook her head fiercely, tears welling in her wide eyes. “I don’t like it.” 

And as Hopper stared at the little girl in shock, he realized that he was in the wrong. She was scared, clearly scared, so why was he making her do this? He’d really thought she’d love it, would maybe even be angry with him that he hadn’t shown her fireworks yesterday, but obviously that wasn’t the case. For months he’d been urging El to better articulate her feelings, to tell him what was wrong and why she felt the way she did, and wasn’t she doing that right now? Why wasn’t he respecting that? 

Jim’s eyes softened and he pulled her into a tight hug. “Hey, that’s okay, it’s okay, El. We don’t have to set off any more, alright? Not if you don’t like it.” 

She sniffled into his shoulder and gripped him tighter, effectively answering him. He held her for another minute before she pulled away and wiped her eyes, and Hopper scooped up the remaining fireworks-Jesus, how much had he spent on this shit? El held his shirttail as he led her back to the cabin, and once inside she curled up on the couch, staring at the man as he hauled the big wooden box up into the loft. He plopped down next to her when she was finished, and she immediately curled into him, cheek on his chest. 

“What would you like to do, Kiddo? Whatever you want, okay?” the man said, pulling his fingers through her growing head of curls. 

El only had to think for a moment. “A movie. And Eggos.” 

Jim smiled back at her. “Okay, movie and Eggos it is. And no more fireworks, right?” 

The child nodded in affirmation, eyes full of trust. “No more fireworks.”


End file.
